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News in Brief

Union government has decided to build five no-frills airports at Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Hubli and Belgaum (Karnataka). A draft policy on remote and regional connectivity has also been evolved, which will aim at granting various concessions and incentives to airlines to fly to such areas.

The astounding success of Beijing’s “maritime silk road” proposal has prompted India to launch its own “Project Mausam”, a trans-national initiative meant to revive its ancient maritime routes and cultural linkages with countries in the region. Titled Project Mausam: Maritime Routes and Cultural Landscapes Across the Indian Ocean, the project will focus on the natural wind phenomenon, especially monsoon winds used by Indian sailors in ancient times for maritime trade, that has shaped interactions between countries and communities connected by the Indian Ocean. Project Mausam aims to explore the multifaceted Indian Ocean “world”—extending from East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka to the Southeast Asian archipelago.

Indo-US combined military training exercise “Yudh Abhyas 2014” started in the foothills of Himalayas of Chaubattia in Uttarakhand, on 17 September 2014, as part of ongoing bilateral defence cooperation with USA. The focus of the exercise was to carry out counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in mountainous terrain under United Nations (UN) charter.

The sixth meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for Ministers of Interior/Home was held at Kathmandu on 19 September 2014.

Prime Minister Narinder Modi asked the nation to celebrate 24 September as Anand Utsav, to celebrate the success of Mangalyan.

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programme of the Union government aims at making India a “clean country” by 2019 and providing a toilet in every household.

With the objective of making India a manufacturing hub for domestic and foreign companies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 25 September 2014, launched the NDA Government’s “Make in India” campaign to attract industrialists to make India a global manufacturing hub, to help create jobs and boost economic growth. The “Make in India” initiative will act as a first reference point for guiding foreign investors on all aspects of regulatory and policy issues and assist them in obtaining regulatory clearances.

World Tourism Day (WTD) is observed on 27 September. 2014 WTD drew special attention to the role of tourism in contributing to one of the building blocks of a more sustainable future for all: Community development. This focus was in line with the global transition to the Sustainable Development Goals as the guiding principle promoted by the UN from 2015 and beyond.

World Heart Day is an annual event which takes place on 29 September every year. As part of the 2014 World Heart Day, World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on the need to reduce salt consumption, which is linked to approximately 2.5 million people dying annually from cardiovascular diseases.

An Appropriation Act is passed by Parliament during budget session to allow the government to withdraw money from the exchequer for a financial year. The law has no utility after the next budget when a new Appropriation Act gets passed.